A Walk in the Rain
by robotamputee
Summary: While pondering the change in a certain Marauder, Lily Evans meets an unexpected visitor, and they have an unexpectedly good time. Oneshot. LilyJames


It was her place of solitude, which was strange, since she hated the sport. Lily Evans, a confused 17 year-old sat alone in the abandoned Quidditch stands of Hogwarts School. She found herself there almost every night recently, and had taken a liking to it. She would sit to think, or muse over something that had happened that day, or just to fume at the confusing thoughts blowing about in her mind.

Lately, her feelings toward a certain bespectacled boy seemed to be wavering. For almost her entire schooling (6 years worth) she had harboured a deep dislike for the boy. But upon the beginning of her 7th and final year, she had noticed a severe change in his attitude. It all started on platform 9 3/4.

_Flashback_

A cool summer breeze rattled a sign that read 'Kings Cross station' on September 1. The station was unusually packed with teenagers, and the air was filled with the hoots of owls, the thud of fallen trunks, or the meow of a cat. The guards were used to it, but the customers travelling on different trains found it awfully odd. Amidst the teens, was Lily Evans. Her hair pulled into a bun, and her eyes scanning the crowd. She smiled when she saw her best friend, Alex Forefield, talking to a handsome black-haired boy. Upon sighting the boy, she scowled in obvious dislike, but pushed on through the crowd regardless.

'Hello Lily!' Alex greeted, flashing a smile, 'James here was just telling me of his good news!' she said, nodding at the boy she had been talking to.

'Oh really, and what's this good news he has to tell?' Lily asked politely, not looking at James.

After glancing at James, as if asking whether to let him tell her or not, he said, 'No, you go ahead Alex, you tell her.'

Lily was surprised at this comment. James Potter was known for being the most boastful boy in all of Hogwarts. The fact that he would let someone else tell Lily something so important was a change.

'James is Head boy!' Alex squealed. Lily's eyes widened, 'Potter, Head boy?' she said, flabbergasted.

'Yup,' Alex replied, grinning like the cat that ate the canary, 'and I couldn't help but remember you telling me _you_ are the Head girl!'

Lily couldn't help but turn to James, who was, surprisingly, blushing; 'Is that true?' She said, to which he merely nodded. Shaking her head, Lily had already forgotten the comment Alex had made about her status.

Suddenly, a voice called over the crowd and came bounding over, practically dragging someone behind with him. 'Prongs,' Sirius Black, a handsome boy with long black hair called, 'Prongs old-boy, thought we'd never find you!' Huffing beside Sirius, the boy who had been dragged to the scene added, 'we were with him not five minutes ago, Padfoot.'

'Yes,' Sirius (or Padfoot) said, 'but it _did_ take us five minutes to find him, Moony.' Remus Lupin (or Moony) simply shook his head.

_End Flashback_

Lily still marvelled to that day (3 weeks later) at the fact that _James Potter_, nefarious trouble maker and conceited berk actually _blushed_. It and several other instances had changed her view of him completely, and she didn't care for it one bit.

If all of a sudden he became a calm and mature person, it would be less and less easy to find reasons to not like him. Already, she had found herself talking pleasantly, even joking, with him on several occasions, and it made her mind reel.

You see, starting in their fourth year, James had made it a regular occurrence of asking her out, all in varying forms of embarrassment for Lily. It even got to the point that she was asked out no less than five times a day, and their already rocky acquaintanceship had crumbled. He had been the big-headed prick who was insensitive and mean, jinxing younger kids 'just because he could'. And it was all true. But now, Lily saw him acting more and more responsible.

And to top it all off, he had completely stopped asking her out, too, which unnerved her even more. Though she would never admit it to another human soul, she missed the attention. That was why, among other things, she had begun sitting in the Quidditch stands every night.

A cool wind blew from the south, blowing Lily's red hair all over her face. Pushing it behind one ear, she shivered in the cold, but refused to move. She was just stubborn like that, to not follow her common sense. Looking up into the sky, she noticed it was becoming steadily cloudier. "Please don't rain, please don't rain, please don't rain." She begged. Not five seconds later, the tell-tale splash of water on her face made her scowl. Even the weather was against her.

Sighing, she decided she might as well leave, if she was in danger of becoming soaking wet. Standing up, she stretched her cramped muscles, and began her decent from to the ground. 10 minutes later, she was safely making her way toward Hogwarts, when suddenly, she heard another splash; but this time it wasn't that of a raindrop, but that of someone, someone other than her, walking around in the rain. Reaching into her pocket, Lily's eyes widened as she realized she had left her wand back at the castle. Glancing around, though unable to see anything because of the now heavy downpour, Lily felt fear sink into her stomach.

'Who-who's there?' she called, and the footsteps stopped. Next second, along with a muttered 'Lumos,' a white light appeared about three meters in front of her. Calling again, the stranger replied, 'Who're you?'

Yet again, Lily was surprised. It was Potter! Stuttering, she said, 'what're you doing out here, Potter?'

'I think the better question is still who you are. I don't have the same physic abilities you do.' Lily almost grinned, but stopped, when she realized who she was talking to.

'It's Lily Evans. So now, tell me why you're out here.' It was a demand, not a question.

'Lily?' Potter said, surprised, 'Why are you out here? It's raining!'

Lily nearly growled (in all honestly, she did, but if you asked her in hindsight, she would deny it) and said, 'Potter, I will ask you one more time, _why are you out here?'_ the last five words pronounced slowly and clearly.

'I went for a walk.' Potter said simply. You could hear the shrug in his voice, though the rain prevented any sight.

Lily took a deep breath to calm her anger. 'OK, good enough.'

Potter grinned, and Lily involuntarily shuddered, her teeth chattering from the cold.

'Seriously, Lils; we should get you inside before you die of pneumonia.' Potters voice held concern, and Lily was caught off-guard (something that seemed to be happening a lot around Potter lately) by the sincerity in his words.

'd-don't c-c-call me th-that.' Lily stuttered, but she had to agree, it was freezing out there!

Lily could see the light heading in her direction. With a sigh, Potter called 'If you wouldn't mind, could you keep talking so I know where you are? Or maybe lighting your wand?'

Lily gritted her teeth, which was a difficult feat due to their non-stop chattering. 'I g-guess I'll have to j-just k-k-keep talking then, as I s-seem to have l-left my wand up in the c-c-castle.' At these words, Lily could feel a blush appear on her freezing cheeks (or more like, they were tinted a deeper shade of pink).

Yet another sigh. 'How do you get yourself into these situations, Lily?' But it wasn't mocking, but a gentle scorn like that of a parent.

'You kn-know, I b-believe lady l-luck is ag-gainst me.' Lily frowned.

Are you sure she hasn't taken a vacation or something?'

'I'm s-sure.'

Potter chuckled, and Lily realized she was doing it again! She had unknowingly been talking with Potter as if he wasn't her sworn enemy. Talking like they were friends!

'You know,' Potter mused, 'you never told me why you're out here. Unless it's private.' He hastily added.

'No.' Lily sighed, 'J-just thinking, i-is all. I s-seem to be d-d-doing it a lot l-lately.'

A small 'ahh' from Potter, and then he was close enough that they could see each other (that or the rain had cleared slightly; which it had).

'Alright, now that I've found you, we begin our long, dangerous trek back to school.' Even though he was looking tired and wet, he still managed a bit of humour in his voice.

Though quietly thinking of ways to get herself away from him, Lily grudgingly walked with him in the way they thought was the school. By now, they could see the faint outline of something big and solid in front of them, and though James said 'finally, the school!' Lily couldn't help but wonder why it was so short, instead of towering over her like the Hogwarts did. She voiced none of her opinions however, until they were near enough to see that they indeed had been walking away from the school, toward the Forbidden Forest.

'No!' Lily cried, 'No no no no no!' She could feel tears of anger mix with the rain on her cheeks. Lily felt herself fall to the ground, trying to beat it to a pulp with her fists.

James bent down beside her, ever the calm one. 'Come on Evans, it sucks that we had been going all this way for nothing,' at these words Lily gave a particularly loud howl, 'Yeah, but we have to keep going.' Finally getting his chance, he slipped his cloak around her shoulders (something he had been trying to do for a while, but had been unsuccessful) and grasped her hands, pulling her up.

By a sudden stroke of brilliance, he cast a heating charm on the cloak, and he could feel it get warm to the touch. Having already done the same on his own clothes before he left the castle, they made their way in the opposite direction of the forest.

For several minutes, there was silence, then 'Why were you t-taking a walk?'

James shrugged, 'Feels good to clear my mind every now and then, you know? Sometimes, especially with all the homework we're getting, I need to just, you know…' His statement broke off to hang in the damp air around them.

'Contemplate?' Lily offered, and James nodded, 'Yeah, kinda.'

'I kn-know what you m-mean.' Lily nodded, 'That's why I've been g-going to the Quidditch stands l-lately.' James looked at her questioningly, 'No one would ever d-dream of going to the Quidditch s-stands, whereas the Astronomy tower is usually f-filled with, uh…'

'Unfavourable company?' James, who was smiling, offered. He had been thinking about the couples who frequented the astronomy tower for some 'alone time'.

'Yeah.' Lily nodded. Her teeth had finally begun to stop chattering, causing her to stutter less.

For the next 15 minutes (the time it took them to cross the grounds) Lily and James talked about any subject they could think about. For some reason, they felt a lot more comfortable talking when they knew it was just them. Lily had eventually given up on thinking of ways to get away from him, as she was actually having a good time with him. When the castle appeared, both were secretly upset that their time together was almost over.

'Well…' James ventured, breaking a silence that had lasted for the last 3 minutes.

'I guess this is goodbye.' Lily said. Even James could hear the regret in her voice, and couldn't help but smile.

'Yup,' He agreed, 'but we can talk some other time. We are both Heads after all.'

Lily nodded. 'Yeah, OK. How about every time we patrol, we can talk?' James nodded. 'Sounds good to me.'

Walking toward the portrait hole that covered the entrance to Gryffindor common room, both the teens were silent. When they were standing in front of the Fat Lady, Lily couldn't help but feel like she'd been on a date. But I haven't, right? She thought. It was just a walk with Potter that meant absolutely nothing, right?

'Password?' The Fat Lady said, and James jumped nearly 3 feet in the air. He had been so busy looking into Lily's emerald-green eyes that he had forgotten where he was for a moment.

'Amortentia.' Lily said, and with a nod, the Fat Lady admitted them into the common room. Lily climbed in, closely followed by James, and stood in the middle of the room, looking anywhere but at each other.

Finally, Lily spoke. 'Thanks. Even though this wasn't a date,' at this James shook his head forcefully, 'I still had a great time.'

James nodded, a blush appearing on his cheeks, 'Yeah. Umm…Lily? Can I ask you a question?'

Lily, dreading the question, nodded her head cautiously. 'Um, do you want to, maybe, be, umm, friends?'

Lily smiled. 'We'll see. Goodnight, James.' And with that, she was gone.

James stood there for quite a while, a shocked expression on his face. She said yes! He thought, jubilantly. I can't believe she said yes! And she called me James! I could sing! But I won't. He added hastily, frowning at the trouble it would cause him.

The next day, when everybody saw James Potter and Lily Evans conversing like they had been friends forever, all anyone could do was stare. After a few days, the rumours died down and the commotion over them stopped, to which they were grateful. Over time they became closer and closer, until one day, James felt it safe to ask the one question he had always ask her, but never got the right answer too. Though waiting for her to blow up in his face, with one word, and a blush, he really did sing.

'Yes.'

And the rest, as they say, is history.

A.N. - What do you think? Sorry it's kind of short, but I couldn't think of anything else to write for this one-shot, though I have to admit, ideas of making this a multi-chapter one-shot (if that makes any sense) had blown about in my mind for a while there. If you feel an inexplicable urge to tell me that this MUST be a two or three-shot, feel free, but otherwise, I'm closing the thought bubble on this one.

By the way, if you're wondering, I will be updating a lot more often (if anyone even knows I'm still alive) and I have an idea for a (in my opinion) really good story. Coming soon, to a computer screen near you! Thanks

Droplets


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